Elastic thread laying attachment for sewing machines



Oct. 28, 1952 R. s. NOGLER EI'AL ELASTIC THREAD LAYING ATTACHMENT FORSEWING MACHINES Filed New. 17, 1950 2 SHEETS-SHEET l IN VEN TORS- Oct.28, 1952 R. s. NOGLER ETAL 2,615,409

ELASTIC THREAD LAYING ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES 2 SHEETSSHEET 2Filed NOV. 17, 1950 INVENTORS.

Patented'Oct. 28, 1952 Y I ELASTIC THREAD LZVAHYING ATTACHMENT FORSE-WING MACHINES I e g Raymond S. Nogler,Pasadena, and Stewart D.

' Menzies, Manhattan Beach, Calif., assignorsto ngeles, Calif.-, a.corpora? Y Catalina, Inc., Los A tion of California I ApplicationNovember 17, 1950, Serial No. 196,195

This invention relates to an improved elastic thread laying attachmentfor' sewing machines and hasfor one of its principal'objects theprovision of means which can be applied to'practi cally any commercialOr industrial sewingmachine on the market and'which will perform aspecific purpose, namely,'theapplication of a resilient strandycordorstripto a shee't of substantially' non-resilient fabric, the resilientcord being applied under tension so that-when the tension is released,the fabric will assume a shirred or puckered state and appearance.

'One of the important objects of this invention is -to provide anattachment for sewing machines for producing' a shirred effect onfabrics,*which attachment shall be compact, easily applied topractically any industrial sewing machine now on the market with littleor no change or adaptation, and which will enable-a much faster and moreefficient production of shirred fabricsthan has heretofore-beenconsidered possible;

-Another and further important object of this invention resides in theprovision of a shirring attachment for. sewing-machines which willenable the application-of a practically continuous length of resilientcord to a fabricwhile the cord is under tension and which will furtherenable the convenient doubling back of the cord and theimmediate-resumption of a stitching operation forfproducing anotherlinevof such attached resilient cord without interfering withthe continuity of effort, stitching or final result.

Other and further important objects of the in;

ventionwill be apparent from the disclosures in the accompanyingdrawings and following specification; J

The invention, in a preferred form, is illus- 9Clai ms. (Cl. 112-100) inactual operation thereon.

Figure 5 is a view similar to- Figure4,.but show-' ing the guide inmiddle position.

' Figure 6, is a view similar to :both Figures 4 and 5, but showingltheguide in forward position i and illustrating itsjrelationship to thepresser foot of the machinewhereby'the resilientcord is temporarilyclamped, enabling turning of the material to be sewed for the purpose"of starting another line of stitching. i. Y

Figure 7 is an end view showing particularly the guide for the resilientcord andthe needle and the presser foot of "the sewing machine, togetherwith the spaced relationship between these parts in thatparticularposition. J I Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure '7? onlyshowing the presser footin; raised position and illustrating theresilientcord clamped between its upper .surface and the under face ofthe guide for this cord. This view corresponds to the showing in Figure6.

the sewing machine attachment-of this inventio and showing the elasticundertension.

As shown in the drawings:-,

The reference numeral l0 indicates generally a vrepresentativesewing-machine, preferably of the type used for industrial productionwherein great ruggednessand considerable speed ofop: erationarecombined; The machine is provided with the usual base plate I2; andbalance-wheel M, A driveshaft; Ifiis connected to the balance wheelandextends longitudinally throughout the upper housing ofthe machine Ill. vI e The attachment itself comprises fa casting or the like 18, which isattached to the under face of the main. bqdyof the sewing machine l0 bymeans of an integral plate 20 or in some other manner. In. order to fitthe attachmentinto the machine anopening 22 is out into thecasing l0and. a removable',cover;24 is provided fora desired finish and alsoforinspection' or. repairs.

The castingjltl may bev of various sizes .,and shapes and may be.in oneor more parts, depending somewhat upon the particularmachine and anyspecialpurpose for which it is used.

A drive shaft'yZfi is mounted ,in the casting. 18; i this being.supported by suitable. bearings 8 and a thrust bearing30 isalso .fixedonto the shaft adjacent its lower end forfthe purpose of main} tainingthe same in desired position.

A bevel gear 32 isfixe'd to the upper en'd of the shaft andthis is inmesh with a correspondrj ing bevel gear 34 fixed onthe main drive shaftI 6 of the 4 machine. The -ratio "between "the" two gears shown is twoto one but this if desired or necessary.

m y be. ied

A flat plate 35 which operates as a crank arm is affixed to the lowerend of the shaft 26 and eccentrically mounted in the under face of thisplate is a pin 38 which may be simply fixed in the'plate or which mayinclude a roller. This pin or rollerg-38operates in a'isloty iilf formedin an adjacent plate 42shaped as best shown in Figures 4, and 6. Theslot 40 is offset as shown so that the parts operated by the plate 42will be similarly offset from the longitudinal center of the main driveshaft 16.

Attached to the forward end of the plate 42 is a slide plate 44 whichoperates-in-azslot formed.

in the lower face of the casting l8, and this slide plate is held inposition in this slot by means of a cover plate 46 as best shown inFigure 2.

Removably attached to the forward end of the slide plate 44, preferablyby means of set screws 48, is a guide element somewhat Z-shaped as wshown in Figures 1 andf2 and indicated by the reference numeral 1 50.

The upper end of this guide is adapted to be attached to the forward endof theplate-45by means of the set screws 48 and the'lower-projecting.end is parallel tothe upper end, the whole being integral with-the.vertical portion 50.

,The lower'projecting endv has an opening 52 therein for the passagetherethrough of a resile ient cord or strip 54. As best shown inFigure8, the. resilient cord guiding element 50 is offset from thesewing machine needle 56 so as to permit the regular operation of theneedle by the main drive shaft l5 of thezsewingmachine but, at the sametime, the resilient;cord 54 is-properly fed into a position-adjacent theneedle 56 during thestitching operation;

- The usual pressor' foot.,58' is associatedwith both the needle 56 and:the guide element50, the relationship between the parts being bestshown in Figures 7 and 8. A length of thread 60 is supplied from thespool 62 for the-needle 56 and the resilient-cord 54 is supplied from aspool 55. These spools may The lengthof resilientcord 5.4 is adapted tobe applied to a piece of fabric 68 as best shown in Figure 9, theresilient cord being under tension-when stitched to the fabric by meansof the threads 60 and 66. This tension is regulated. by the usualattachment 10 fitted onto the head of the machine II] as shown in Figurel.

In operation, the needle 56 is moved up and down through the fabric 68in the usual manner and the presser foot is accordingly shifted forafeeding of (the material. At the same time, the

lower end of the guide 50 for the resilient cord. isv reciprocated,moving thecordfrom one side,

of the needleto the other in proper timed relationship with. the speedof the .needle and under feed. This movement is best; illustrated inFigures 4 and 6, which represent the two extremes of position of thelower end of the guide and showing the, same in relationship, to the.

presser foot 58. r

Due to the motion, the thread 60 is applied to the resilient cord 54,first on one side and then on the other side thereof, and at eachpiercing of the fabric by the needle 56, a lock stitch is formed inconjunction with the thread 66 from the bobbin'64, all: as illustratedin Figuref9; In this manner, the resilient cord 54 is applied under adesired tension to the fabric 68 and stitch thereto at regularpredetermined intervals all along the. lengthor. width of theparticular, fabric 68 andinifastraightor curved line, as desired.

When the end or side of the fabric 68 is reached, the operator stops themachine normally and in the position shown in Figures 6 and 8. At

this point, the presser foot 58 is raised and the.

guide for the resilient cord is in its forward position, 7 whereupon,the resilient cord will be clamped between the upper face of the presserfoot and the underface of the extension of the guide 50. This enablesthe operator to move the fabric around through an arc of one-hundredand. eighty degrees for the purpose I of: starting'a new line ofstitched resilient cord. An -inter.-- mediate step in this movement ofthe operation isishown in Figure 6-.

. The desired tension is obviously maintained on the resilientcord 54by-reason of :the fact of. its being clamped betweenthe presser foot andthe guide; while, at the same time, the operator has preliminarilyprovided a suflicient excess length of this cord beyond theedge ofthefabric to. produce. a suitable U-turn as shown;in-Figure6. As'soon asthe fabric; 68 is again in desired-position with the next lineofstitching, the operationisresumed: with little or no loss of time. doesnot apply solely tov the repetitionof lines. of; stitchingupon one pieceof fabric,,but thesame operation is employedwhen shifting from. one

piece of fabric to another;

Assuming. that, there are no accidental breaks" in the resilient: cord54 or. the thread 60, the:

operation can be made continuous over; many hours of working time,dependingsolely upon-the;

size and capacity of thebobbin- 64.

It, will be evident that herein is provided ashirring or puckeringattachment for sewing struction and one whichis practicallyfreefrom:

flaws due to breakage orreplacement of the thread or other material; Thedevice .is capable of withstanding top speed operation .for extendedperiods of time and the, ease of operation makes for greatly increasedproduction and satisfied.

operators. 7 1

We are aware that many changes; may:- be made and numerous details ofconstruction varied throughout a wide range without departing from theprinciples of this invention, and we, therefore, do not purpose limitingthe patent granted hereon otherwise than as necessitated'byf the priorart.

We claim as our invention:

work adapted to be fitted onto the housing of a sewing machine, avertical shaft rotatably fitted into the frame work, a gear driveconnection" between the said shaft-and the main drive: shaft of themachine, a camplate onthe lower endiof." the first named shaft, a slideplate in the .framei work adapted to be reciprocated by thegcamplatez'and a guide element for the resilient thread-like member on the end ofthe slide plate.

2. A device as described in claim 1, wherein the guide element has anopening in its lower end for the continuous passage therethrough of alength of said resilient thread-like material.

3. A-device as described in claim 2, wherein means are provided forplacing the length of resilient material, when passing through theopening, under a predetermined tension.

4. A device as described in claim 3, wherein the end of the guideelement is adjacent the needle and the presser foot of the sewingmachine.

5. A device as described in claim 4, wherein means are provided forreciprocating the end of the guide element laterally across'the plane ofmovement of the needle and presser foot during the stitching operationand across the path of movement of the fabric being fed into themachine. 1

6. A device as described in claim 5, wherein a length of thread issupplied to the needle from above and another length of thread issupplied to the needle from a bobbin in the machine to produce a lockstitch about the length of resilient stretched material and fasten thesame to'the base fabric. v i

'7. A device as described in'claim 6, wherein the ratio between thebevel gears on the driving and driven shafts is one to. two.

8. A device as described in claim '7, wherein the cam plate includes astud movable in a slot in the slide plate.

9. A device as described in claim 8, wherein the stud in the cam plateis onset with relation to the longitudinal center of the main driveshaft of the machine.

' RAYMOND S. NOGLER. STEWART D. MENZIES.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

v UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,067,340 Prazak Jan. 12, 1937Diamond Dec. 19,1950

